Toru Iwatani can be considered God among men in the gaming industry. Do you know that we also have to thank a pizza pie for it? In 1977, a young Toru Iwatani was the first to program for Namco, a computer software company. During 1978-79 he had designed arcade releases like Gee Bee, Bomb Bee, and Cutie-Q. After working on these three titles, Iwatani wished to create a game that would target women and couples. His eureka moment came when he removed a slice of pizza from a pie, creating the visual inspiration for his next big thing. It was in this moment that, according to Iwatani, Pac-Man was officially born. Iwatani determined that food and eating would be the way to get the fairer sex interested. Iwatani was born in Tokyo, Japan. He joined the computer software company Namco in 1977, where he started his career in pinball machines. There, he came up with the idea for a game called “Puck-Man” and in 1980, and assembled a team to release the game within the same year. Continue Reading →